Labels

Life (108) Crafts (39) challenge (30) food (22) cooking (20) shopping (12) TV (9) Movies (6) gardening (6) Exercise (5) Health (5) Travel (5) computing (5) Decorating (3) weather (3)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

More to Learn

Yes, there's a lot more for me to learn about quilting or maybe there always will be if I'm doing different things all the time.  I started this new quilt the first of the month and all went very well, or so I thought, the first week.  In fact, I was starting to get a little cocky and thinking I'd be done with this in a couple weeks.  Then the reality set in as I laid everything out to look at.  Evidently I was not as precise as I should have been in fussy cutting all my florals.  Once I set them on corner, some were not facing the top of the quilt like I had intended.  I also sewed some together too soon so a bunch had to be taken apart.  I also thought I had plenty of squares but once I started moving some around I realized that some wouldn't work on the edges.  Really, it was just a slight setback but it's a lot of small pieces to put together and I feel I'm losing some motivation.  I'm giving myself a goal each day to complete a certain part so I can think and reflect on each step.  I realize this is not an easy first project by any stretch of the imagination and in that sense I think I'm still doing pretty well.  I have my first class this week and I'm sure I'll learn something there that maybe I can bring home with me.  Then I'll be wondering what my next project will be.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Business Tactics

There are a few things that are really bothering me lately about the business world.  One of them happens to be the change in our utilities (electricity to be exact) and choosing a different provider.  We have been getting the mailings for quite awhile, look at them and toss them, signaling we have made our choose.  Despite that we still get the phone calls explaining the deal to us.  Recently I received a call from a man who, after I said we didn't want to change, proceeded to raise his voice as he explained it and eventually asked me in a very derogatory tone why I didn't like to save money.  I retaliated and said I didn't like his tone and hung up on him.  I could tell by his voice that he thought I was some old senile lady with a hearing problem.  Yesterday, we also got a letter from a third party company wanting us to sign up for a membership to have outside electrical line work done for free.  This did not come directly from Penelec but had their name on it as they had their approval.  I call it deceptive advertising and also targeted to the elderly.  We're also fighting a battle with Verizon because of a charge that showed up on a bill a couple months ago for tech support that we didn't buy.  The first month my hubby called, got it straightened out and I paid the bill less that charge.  The second month the charge was still there so he called and I did the same.  Now this month the charge is gone but they showed an outstanding balance from the last bill.  Are these companies this desperate that they will try and bill you or talk us into something to make a buck  -  I suppose so.  In all fairness I need to talk about two things that happened just this year that restored my faith in the American people.  Over Christmas we gave both the mail lady and the paper carrier some money and candy for Christmas.  I recently received a thank you card from the mail lady that was stamped and sent US Postal.  What a gal!  Talk about honesty  -  she could have very easily slipped it in with the rest of the mail and no one would have said anything.  Another thing that just happened was about our lawn care service.  We discontinued it a couple years ago because of the water line going in but now we decided to get it again and sent in the prepay amount.  They call yesterday and said they were sending it back because supposedly we prepaid in 2009 for the 2010 season when we stopped so there was a credit.  He wasn't even going to worry about the difference in the amount and the fact that we were now getting 6 treatments instead of the usual 4.  I suppose in reality they got interest on that and it all works out but I can't even find my record of it and can't remember to boot.  Also, what a guy!  I hope this reflects how I do recognize exemplary behavior but don't cross me.

Friday, January 6, 2012

New Quilt Project

I'm ready to start a new quilt.  I'm excited but still a little apprehensive.  I realized this week that I never really follow a pattern strictly.  I always manage to tweak it a little depending on the size, material or pattern.  I'm a great one for combining a couple different patterns, be it quilts, afghans, hats, pillowcases, purses or scarves.  That's what becomes frustrating for me when I have nothing concrete to follow.  I suppose I'll never change so I may as well revel in the fact that projects are truly mine.  Anyway, I talked before about this quilt, I'll call Garden Twist, and where I got my floral squares.  Soon after I retired I went shopping with a friend and bought 2 shades of green for the strips that intertwine (that was over a year ago).  Since then I've made a bunch of fall table runners and some of that green fit in perfectly.  I originally guessed as to how much to buy so now I'm faced with not enough, I think.  I went to JoAnn's with a long list of fabrics to buy for it and believe it or not, found the 2 shades of green so I could buy more of that.  I also lucked out with the outside border, which I wanted something in pink and green.  I found some on clearance that was exactly what I wanted.  Now the hard part  -  2 fillers in different pink geometric prints.  I needed something that wouldn't fight with those big florals but would still look nice.  I ended up buying a small pink check and a pink with white polka dots.  I'm still not sure about the pinks  -  time will tell on that subject.  So today my project is to determine what width I want my green strips, cut all my strips and sew the green squares to each corner of the florals.  Remember I'm making this up as I go even though I have two patterns I'm looking at but neither is exactly what I want.  Sometimes I think I'm the only one going through these kind of decisions but when I was at JoAnn's I realized we're all the same.  There was a mother-daughter team in there trying to decide what colors of pink and green to put in the little girl's room.  At least I had only myself to argue with!  Another lady and I kept passing each other, smiling and without saying a word, acknowledging our indecision.  Wish me luck.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Equipment Issues

Just read my dil's post and saw her beautiful pizza that she made.  Dawn, it looks great and I'm sure tasted the same!  So what is my problem with my pizzas?  I think I have equipment issues out the wazoo, not to discredit my dil on her superb achievement.  First it was my sewing machine and now my stove that I'm realizing might be the problem.  The other day I decided to finish up some bread flour I had in the freezer and make a loaf of french bread.  I used to make this all the time in the breadmaker on Saturdays when the girls and I had soup day.  It was delicious.  I've been  in a real slump lately with the recipes for dough that I've been trying.  There's a lot of them out there that are really soft and that just isn't working for me.  So anyway, I made up the same recipe I used to but in the mixer and the dough was great.  Then I put it in the oven to bake and, nothing, it didn't even brown.  The inside texture was doughy and it was awful.  Like I said I've been having trouble with my pizzas and even talked to my dil about my crust not even browning on the stone.  She mentioned how she uses her stone but doesn't even preheat it and from the looks of it comes out picture-perfect.  I was really disgusted with my dough, especially after bragging about it to my hubby.  I decided, long overdue I know, to put an oven thermometer in to check the temp.  It was low and kind of unpredictable so I adjusted it according to the book so I would be 35 degrees higher.  Last night I made a batch of biscuits and checked the temp first.  It was still off so I turned the oven 25 degrees higher that it was supposed to go.  The biscuits cooked in the lowest amount of time  - browned and all.  I have to say though I'm still leery of baking another loaf of bread or pizza for fear of it not turning out.  But I think I really do need one of those stones like my dil!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Craft Update

The new year is bringing some new projects to the house that I'm excited about.  I had a few things over my head in the fall that I had to finish before I could focus on anything else.  The two quilts I made for my niece and nephew are finally done but not without some major issues.  Remember me writing about the sewing machine breaking down in November  -  well, I was trying to finish the second one up that week.  Both of those were months in the making and should have been a snap, but they weren't.  Part of it was the technique, which was not what it was cracked up to be, and the other was my machine.  Anyway those are done and I was ready to move on.  I was feeling pretty guilty about not having something homemade for the grandkids so I made them pillow cases.  Those turned out really nice due in part to the rolling technique I found to encase the cuff.  I also made some infinity scarves for myself that solves a couple problems for me  -  one is how to cover my scar and the other is adding some pizazz.  This was a very easy project and one I think I'll get a lot of use out of.  So when Christmas was over, I signed up for a Mystery Block of the Month class at my LQS!  This is very exciting for me despite the fact that it will take over 10 months to complete.  I'm looking forward to learning all the ins and outs of quilt making, at least in regard to this paper pieced project.  Of course, that still leaves me with some time to explore other projects and I've already begun.  Years ago my sil gave me some wallpaper and upholstery books from Padden's that they were giving away.  The wallpaper went really fast, what with preschool and girl scouts, and I managed to use some of the material on canning jar lids, etc.  But I still had all this nice floral material that I didn't even know if I could wash.  I had it cut out of the books a long time ago but it wasn't until last fall when I actually washed and dried it.  It came out really well so my mission was to find a quilt to use them in.  I found 2 that would work with the florals and I'm in the process of combining the best techniques of both to make one I like.  I'll keep you posted on that one and my experience in the class.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

No Passing on the Right

How many times have you been driving on the interstate and due to someone in the left lane, saw another driver, or possibly yourself, passing in the right lane?  This is one of the first lessons I learned in my driver's ed training but it seems no one follows it anymore.  I, myself, have been in the situation where I'm passing a car and have every intention of getting over in the right lane as soon as I clear the passed car, when someone passes me in the right lane.  So far no accident but these people are surely in a big hurry.  Now, on the other hand, I have been passed, by truckers for the most part but not always, who misjudge the road and find that they cannot get ahead of me.  I know this seems unlikely, given my observance of the speed limit (yes, I am a rule-follower), but this leaves me in a quandary as to what to do.  Do I slow down and let him pass or just keep going the same speed and end up passing him on the right?  I have also, as another option here, been in a situation where a vehicle continues to stay in the left lane despite numerous chances to get over, leaving other cars no alternative but to pass on the right.  Why am I writing about this now?  When we were returning from the cabin on Sunday, we saw a truck with the following message on the respective back tire flaps  -  (left) passing, (right) suicide.  As I said before, I see more truckers causing problems like this than cars.  Of course, there's never a cop around when this happens!

Monday, January 2, 2012

New Year, New Me

I guess we always say those kind of things at the beginning of a new year, that's nothing new.  I have no real resolutions, per se, this year because I know how all that goes.  Last year I talked about using adjectives to put into resolutions and then my surgery came up.  If I had known about all that I could have made one that said just to be alive.  I'm being melodramatic, of course, but last year was one of recuperation.  I still don't feel fully recovered but that's mainly my fault.  I still get out of breath when I walk up the stairs and that is what bothers me the most.  Also my weight has fluctuated so much this year.  It amazes me that my weight was low when I was feeling the worst and as soon as I was feeling better, it went up and up.  They told me to weigh myself every day when I left the hospital so I wasn't experiencing sudden gain from water retention.  Now I don't even want to look at that scale.  My dil mentioned in her blog about non-scale successes and I'm going to focus on those this year, such as zippering my pants and not being out of breath going up the stairs.  As usual I'm collecting recipes and I have a few I'd like to try to soothe my sweet tooth but in a healthier way.  Of course I still have these containers of fudge, candy and cookies that I was not able to pawn off on anyone over Christmas.  I considered not making anything over the holidays but that is just not an option for me and if you had seen how well it all went over, you'd understand.  So here I am planning my year  -  signed up for a quilting class that will take me to Oct., deciding what classes to take at the 2 upcoming quilt shows in Cleveland, helping my daughter with her wedding plans, having the grandkids here for another week this summer, and who knows what after that, maybe a trip.  Today I have a list that's a mile long of things that need done so I better get to it.  Happy New Year to all!